WINONA, Minn. – Seven officers stood ready as two of them knocked at a door on Mankato Avenuen on a tip about drugs. They arrested a Winona man who was already out of prison on an earlier drug conviction. Benjamin Wayne Blaschka, 47, was taken into custody without resistance. This was about 10:15 a.m. on the 500 block of Mankato Avenue. In the arrest and preparing for the worst were three agents from the state Intense Supervised Release program; three city police officers; and two sheriff’s deputies. In the house in a zip-lock bag on a top shelf in the living room was a zip-lock bag containing 10.5 grams of meth, police said. Hypodermic needles, pipes and other drug paraphernalia also were found, police said.
Blaschka. Booked for drug possession.